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Worst Selling Cars of All Time

Today, Ford Focus is the most successful car in the world, which got us thinking… Polk data announced recently that Ford Focus is the best-selling car in the world for the second year in a row, with sales topping 1,020,410 globally. So, that begs the question: What were the worst-selling cars of all time? Here ya go:

5. Cadillac Catera: 2001 Cars sold: 9,764 It’s hard to say if the Cadillac Catera, created to open the stodgy old brand to a younger demographic, suffered more from its numerous recalls or its puzzling marketing campaign. Utilizing the line “the Caddy that zigs,” the Catera’s commercial featured Cindy Crawford (already an old-school model) talking to a cartoon wizard duck. Really.

4. Pontiac Aztek: 2005 Cars sold: 5,020 Created for younger drivers with an “outdoorsy” lifestyle, the Pontiac Aztek was quickly lampooned as one of the ugliest cars ever made. A writer from TIME, who was in the audience at the Detroit auto show when GM unveiled the Aztek, says he’ll never forget the gasp he heard from the crowd. “This car could not have been more instantly hated if it had a Swastika tattoo on its forehead,” he said, and Bloomberg reported that one GM official went on record as saying: “We’d fire the guy who greenlighted the Aztek if we could find anyone willing to admit it.”

3. The Yugo GV 1991 Cars sold: Less than 4,000 If you haven’t heard of the Yugo GV, we’re sorry to be the ones forcing you to make its acquaintance. The vehicle made its U.S. debut at the 1984 Los Angeles Auto Show, and has since made more “worst car” round-ups than any other vehicle on this list. NPR’s Car Talk called it “the worst car of the millennium” and Popular Mechanics included it (along with the Cadillac Catera and the Pontiac Aztek) on its list of “Cars That Deserved to Fail.” The car’s main problem can be summed up in one highly publicized story: In 1989, on a windy day in Michigan, a driver pulled her Yugo over on the Mackinac Bridge just in time for a 55 mile-an-hour gust of wind to blow the car over the edge. The driver was killed, and two years later, so was the Yugo.

2. Ford Edsel: 1960 Cars sold: 2,848 In its attempt to compete with GM’s line of mid-sized autos, Ford created one of the biggest flops in automobile history: a car that was over-stylized, over-priced, and over-hyped. The advertising campaign, which coyly presented the car through a blurred lens or wrapped under a tarp, was such a flop that an “edsel” is now colloquially used to describe a product that seems perfect in theory, but fails in “real life.”

1. Studebaker Wagonaire 1963-1966 Cars sold: 940 The Studebaker Wagonaire was a station wagon convertible (already a lot to swallow) — with the wrong part of the car converted. The roof slid forward, not back, creating a breezy feeling of freedom and luxury that could only be enjoyed by your luggage.

Thieves across the country are in many cases not targeting expensive SUVs parked in driveways and parking lots, but...

2 Comments

Bernard Pazder5 years ago

Hi Jerry Reynolds , I enjoyed reading your list on the five worst selling vehicles . My dad was a mechanic at Leif Johnson when the dealership was named Armstong-Johnson . He regretted to work on the” English Fords” imported from England because of the very long wait for parts . I wanted to ask you about hood ornaments on vehicles before 1970 . They were usfull on the long country drives. Vehicles certainly made before 1970 , the long hoods such as Cadilics, Lincoln town cars and even a 1964 Falcon that I had ; they had the long hood that the driver may line up the ornament with road edge as traveled on a country road Thanks BP.